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Robin Sullivan
Robin Sullivan is the wife and agent and editor for author Michael J. Sullivan. About Robin was the intended audience for Riyria Revelations and she was the one who decided they needed to be published and shopped them around. When they were all published and Michael was moving on the Legends of the First Empire, she lamented about missing Hadrian and Royce until the Riyria Chronicles were born. She is currently still the main editor, alpha reader, and agent contact for Michael. She also runs the web store and handles shipments for him. Robin had some health issues in early 2015, but the prognosis after a battery of tests was professed "positive". Blog post by Robin. Michael created a short list of all the things she does/did for him: *Researched agents to determine which ones to query *Wrote queries, compiled various synopsis, wrote various versions of cover letters. *Negotiated contract with agent once landed *Researched small presses to find those that would be a good fit *Wrote queries to the small presses *Negotiated the contract with the small press *Formed a publishing company to self-publish *Find and co-ordinate copy editors *Researched distribution channels *Converted ebooks *Proofed layouts *posted books through all distribution sites *Worked with foreign language scouts were interested in getting translations *Found an agent that specializes in foreign sales *Worked with agent to develop a pitch with New York *Negotiated 2 New York Contracts *Negotiated an Audio rights contract *Negotiated a print-only contract *Is the “liaison” to my agents (I have 3) and the marketing people at the various publishers This is only a small fraction but as you can see "it's a lot." Reddit Comment by Michael J. Sullivan Ridan Publishing and Controversy Robin started a small publishing company to use the knowledge she had gained working with Michael and the publishing industry to try and help small authors earn more money and retain more of their rights. Her contracts all allowed for the authors to leave at any time with 30 days notice. They also received a higher percentage of the royalties for their books than a big publishing house would offer. It was a one-woman show and ran well for quite a while until it became too successful and then collapsed under the stress of personal issues. The authors signed to Ridan were transitioned to self-publishing with all their Ridan produced content given to their ownership on the multiple platforms used to sell the books starting at the end of 2012. Controversy On October 5th, 2012, author Ann Crispin announced on her Facebook page that she was cutting ties with Ridan Publishing due to not receiving any of her royalty payments for the year Facebook post. Crispin was undergoing chemotherapy at the time and needed the royalties to afford her medical care and living expenses. Author Jim C. Hines highlighted her post and many authors rallied around her. Jim C. Hines blogpost The publishing company had been behind schedule on both releasing new books and paying several authors despite the fact that both Robin and Michael were active online and making appearances. Crispin and her supporters were heard almost immediately and Robin contacted Crispin the next morning after the post. Facebook Post Authors and readers demanded answers from the Sullivans and Robin released a statement on Kindleboards. Yes I missed two payments to Ann one Due April 30 (Q1) the other July 31(Q2). She has since received both of these payments in full All other Ridan authors had already received their Q1 and Q2 payments, only Ann was in arrears It was not due to insolvency on Ridan's part...both payments were extremely small. I'm not going to go into details, but I have had some personal tragedies that have been all consuming, and this has meant that many balls have been dropped. I'm extremely sorry for this, and if I could erase what has transpired I would, but I've yet to invent that time machine. Yes I went on vacation (it had been booked in advance and both the airfare and hotels were non-refundable -plus I REALLY needed to get away), but I also got up each morning at 4:00 and worked on Ridan stuff before my husband and son got up). Archive of Robin's post Jim C. Hines posted a follow up on the matter after seeing everything resolved and mentioned questions still being left up in the air for other authors. Jim C. Hines blogpost Micheal J. Sullivan posted in a Reddit comment on October 10th, 2012 that all the authors currently signed to Ridan were being transitioned to self-publishing and that he had also forced his wife on the vacation that incited so much ire in the Ridan critics. Reddit comment by Michael J. Sullivan All's well that ends well in that Ann Crispin got her royalty payments and full control of her books back before her death the following September. And it was a wakeup call for Ridan Publishing that the model of a one-woman show was not sustainable once real life issues got in the way of business operations. References Category:People